Venting/ A Cry for Help!

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Ok so let me start off by saying I love my doodle so so much but he's killing me lately! He has always been a chewer and today when I got home from work he chewed a hole in a down comforter!!!!! Now if this was TV it would have been hilarious when the actor walks in the front door and there is a snow storm of feathers EVERYWHERE. In reality it sucks! Oh and his whole face had feathers suck in his fur- should have taken a picture but I was too upset to at the time! I fixed the comforter and it's not that big of a deal, spending to hours "de-feathering" the apartment was annoying, but what sucks is I thought we were over this chewing phase! He was a horrible chewer up until two months ago and I thought we fixed it and we are back to square one it seems like it, he chewed a corner of a rug two days ago. I'm not sure how to discipline him because it happened when I wasn't here. I took him over to the mess and stuck his nose in it and sad No loudly and he backed away from it but idk if that got the message across. I've tried bitter apple spray on rugs or a watered down hot pepper juice mix but I can't put any of that near things that I will be sleeping on.

Would love to hear your guys advice/thoughts, also if anyone has any similar stories to share and make us all laugh :)

Thanks all,

Jess and Loki (comforter destroyer)

[Donna K & Quincy]

You may need to crate him while you're away, for his safety and your sanity. If you can't crate him at least gate him in an area where he can't damage anything or hurt himself. Close the doors to any rooms that you can. I would we worried about the amount of feathers he's ingested. 

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

I'm keeping an eye on him and he seems perfectly fine and has had two bowel movements since getting home early this afternoon (around 2ish) so I think I'm in the clear but will closely monitor! But yes I might have to gate him. He loves snuggling on the floor in my bedroom, it seems like his safe place so I was thinking it would be nice for him to have access to that when I was gone but it's probably not going to work.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

I'm sorry this happened to you, and I'm certain if we ever left Oscar to have free range of the house when we're gone, he'd do something similar. My vote is to crate Loki, especially since he's destroying household things. Gating him might work but you run the risk of him destroying things inside the gated area. There's really no way to discipline a dog 'after the fact', as they have no clue what you're upset about.

[Judith and Addie]

Jess, if it will make you feel any better, you are not the only one with a chewer, although mine was a previous dog who passed away. What made me feel better about him was when I would remind myself of pictures and stories of other dogs that were so much more destructive. Like one that I saw where the couch was a mass of fabric and foam, or the one where multiple drywall boards were chewed through. My guy destroyed an external hard drive, the discs and book for a pc game, a photo album of pictures of my grandkids, more books than I can remember, and many more things. He had separation anxiety and also could not be crated because he became too anxious and actually would hurt himself. And I could not find a gate that he could not climb over or jump over. Locking him in a room resulted in chewed doorframe and scratch door.

I did my best to dog-proof and I figured anything he got into was my fault for leaving it where he could reach it. Luckily, he did not chew rugs (my present doodle girl did that). A trainer suggested that since I couldn't confine him to try leaving him things that he could safely destroy. She suggested getting lots of old towels, etc., and leaving them in a pile near the door. It did help a bit.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Oh that does make me feel better! I feel bad for him when I gste him because you can tell he would rather lounge wherever but I also don't like coming home to a shredded house! The towels are a good idea I might try something like that if gating him makes him anxious, crating hasn't been very good for him because he gets very anxious and almost panics so I would really really rather not have to tackle that one.

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

Stories. I have lots about Hurley's doodle girlfriend. She keeps over 5 foot fences. All 30 lbs of her. She walks right in the neighbor's back door and invites herself to dinner.

That is a small Karma antic. She will eat anything left on the kitchen counters. And i do mean anything. She even has become quite good at hiding the evidence. Example. Small muffins. Each individually wrapped securely (well so it was thought) in a sealed Tupperware container. Karma not only opened the container and ate all the individually wrapped muffins. She hid the wrappings and attempted to close the container lid. Did not get it back on completely so she was caught.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Hahaha! Of that's funny about the lid!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I think a crate may be the answer. He may just not be ready for full access to your house. I would also make sure to give him some really good exercise in the morning before you leave for work. Do you leave the TV on for him or some noise when you go. You could also try leaving a heavy duty Kong in his crate filled with something good in it to occupy him while you are gone. Make sure it is the one for heavy duty chewers....I think it is black. Or if you chose not to crate him, leave several hidden throughout his area to keep him busy.  How long is he left alone? Is there a possibility for a dog walker or doggie daycare to help you out. Also, sticking his nose in something is never good. It is an old school method of training and it is confusing to him because he has no idea what he is being corrected for. Good luck! I hope it gets better :)

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

He goes to daycare about once a week, I work at a hospital so I have to arrange daycare around my call schedule and such. When he's not at day care my work days vary since the amount of time I'm at work varies. A typical day for him when he's not at daycare would be about a 2mile walk in the morning (we are gradually running more since he's getting older) then someone lets him out about 4 hours later for about a 30-45min walk. The either I'm home about 4 hours later and we do maybe a 3-6mile walk or if I'm there late my neighbor lets him out, in which case when I get home later we then do our long walk. I haven't tried leaving the tv on although that's a good idea I will give that a shot! The sticking his nose in something is old school for sure, that what I remember my parents doing when we were growing up so I thought I would try it and I think you're righg because he just looked confused.

[Glenda & Lizzy Lu]

How old is your puppy? So sorry about the comforter. Lizzy Lu is 8 months today and is a chewing machine! She makes a mad dash for anything paper and usually grabs it before we realize it is within her reach. Thought we would have learned after she chewed off the corner of our Will! There has also been a rug, a hat and the blanket on our bed. She also killed one side of our king size electric blanket. We have to watch her like a hawk. We keep all the doors closed but so help me she is a phantom dog...in and out before you see her. She also uses a diversion tatic, a ball under one paw laying as close to the chair as possible while trying to chew the corner of the chair at the same time.
If she is not chewing she is digging. Our back yard is full of holes which she digs to bury her tennis balls. New rule. No balls outside unless we're throwing them.
I walk her every day and we run her in the back yard. She is a ball of energy. I have lost 11 pounds since we got her 4 months ago. We walk alot!!
I keep reading about other owners giving their dogs bully sticks and how much they love them so today I went to the feed store and bought Lizzy 2. At more than $6 a stick I was sure this was going to be exactly what she needed, something to entertain herself with for hours while I painted the bathroom. The store clerk said they last a long time. In 30 minutes the bully stick went from 12" down to 4"! I never got through the first coat of paint. Will not be buying more of those!
I would love to know how long these dogs chew like this! Kinda thought after all her baby teeth fell out that she would ease up a bit but not happening.

[Amy and Annabelle]

I have an 8 month old just like her. I have to keep Annabelle crated during the night and when we can't pay full attention to her. She is a chewing machine. Her favorite is the kitchen table and chair legs. The stain on the wood can't be good for her. When she is in there with us, I give her a couple of treat puzzles to occupy her while we have dinner. When she watches tv with us I give her a bully stick. She has chewed so much, I don't even want to know what her stomach looks like. Even toys for heavy duty chewers she will somehow manage to destroy. She also loves kleenex and paper towels. We were really hoping she would outgrow this, but so far she is still going strong. My girl is a mini and barely weighs 13lbs. She is anything but a dainty little girl.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Do the treat puzzles work? I was looking at those and wasn't sure if he would just chew through the plastic to get at the treats haha